Hi,
Peritoneal dialysis is regarded as a self-care therapy, that is, you do it by yourself, after being trained, contrary to haemodialysis, in which typically the nurses do all the procedures and steps for you.
The fact that you do peritoneal dialysis by yourself gives you certain freedom and independence of timing and place where you perform the peritoneal dialysis therapy, and makes traveling less cumbersome than haemodialysis, because you need to book a centre overseas and plan your trip around that schedule.
But I appreciate that you might be concerned about infections or other mishaps if performing your peritoneal dialysis in an unfamiliar environment.
The vendors of peritoneal dialysis can deliver dialysis fluids and other equipment to your foreign address, so you can perform it in the comfort of your relatives’ house or in your hotel room. If you are using normally the ‘manual technique’ for peritoneal dialysis, this will be easy for you. On the other hand, if you are normally using automated peritoneal dialysis, ‘machine technique’, at home, it is ideal that you get a refresher training session with the nurses in charge of your care on the ‘manual technique’, to build your confidence when overseas and to be sure you follow the steps to minimise risk for bacterial contamination and infection.
You would need to take all the hygienic precautions explained to you by the nurses, ensure the room where you are performing is clean and comfortable and take good care of your exit site. Then, enjoy your trip or take care of your business matters.
Patients with haemodialysis can also travel. I have helped to arrange haemodialysis sessions to some of my foreign patients while traveling to Singapore for leisure or business with no big issues, trying my best to make it stress-free for them.
For those patients traveling overseas having haemodialysis, my advice is to:
- look for a trustable and affordable dialysis centre (there are published lists of international centres on the web),
- ask whether your dialysis coordinator, your nurses or your doctor can help you with the preparation, selection of a centre and planning, including giving you a letter with your prescription and recommendations, arranging the pertinent tests to travel with (if they require them beforehand), or if they familiar with the dialysis care in the country that you are visiting you, to give you more specific recommendations.
But do expect that haemodialysis therapies performed one-off in a foreign country can be more expensive than in your country.
Dr Francisco, wishing you the best possible health and smoother trips abroad.
